


Shooting the Moon

by thegrimshapeofyoursmile



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, M/M, Pepperony - Freeform, Steve has feels, Steve in the IM 3 verse, Steve is lost and lonely and still hears ghosts from the past, Tony has issues and Steve tries to help, onesided Superhusbands
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-21
Updated: 2013-07-21
Packaged: 2017-12-20 22:44:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/892769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegrimshapeofyoursmile/pseuds/thegrimshapeofyoursmile
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everything in this century is strange and he is too madly, desperately in love with the only man that makes him laugh on a regular base without even trying.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shooting the Moon

_I love you._

It’s something he thinks in the earliest hours when everyone else in the house is still (or finally) asleep and he gets ready for running his miles. He looks at his reflection in the mirror when he thinks it, but his thoughts are far, far below him in a workshop that belongs to this ridiculously wonderful, ridiculously hurt man Steve dedicates his _I love you_ s to.

_You fool_ , Bucky says quietly in his head and Steve smiles at the reflection in his mirror before he starts running.

“I know, “ Steve finally says, miles and miles and time away from home, and the Bucky in his head sighs.

///////////////

He likes Pepper. Really, he does. She is a beautiful, amazing, clever woman and she loves Tony with all her heart. Sometimes, she is the only thing that holds Tony together when he is about to collapse under the weight of the world. He can see that. Everyone can see that.

Sometimes he wonders if everyone can also see that she sometimes struggles with holding Tony up without getting crushed underneath him. After all, she is just so frail even with all her strength.

He draws her once, all vivid colors and ink, and she smiles brilliantly when he gives it to her.

“Stop winning my woman over,” Tony drawls when he sees the portrait, but the hunch in his shoulders eases a little; the vast emptiness of space in his eyes fills a little. Steve looks at him and thinks that there is nothing more beautiful than Tony Stark with the stars in his eyes without all their coldness. 

//////////

_I love you_.  
 _You gotta stop,Steve_ , Bucky says in his head and sounds exasperated. Steve listens to the ghost in his head and blood and misses him so much it hurts. Everything in this century is strange and he is too madly, desperately in love with the only man that makes him laugh on a regular base without even trying. 

/////////

“Do you know how glad I am to have you at my side?” Tony tells him with that painful honesty, bare of all sarcasm, that he only ever shows after a near-death experience.

(Sometimes he worries that Tony only looks lively while facing death these days.)

_Be still my heart_ , Steve thinks and smiles and slings an arm around Tony’s shoulder, squeezing him tight for a moment before, inevitably, letting go.

////////

“Nothing’s been the same since New York,” Tony says and Steve stops outside the workshop and listens even though he knows he shouldn’t.   
“As if I couldn’t tell,” Pepper replies and sounds tense.

“I don’t sleep, I just---I need to protect the---the only thing I cannot live without,” Tony says and sounds heartbroken and hunted. Steve knows this kind of voice and shuts his eyes. There is nothing he wants less for Tony Stark than this experience. 

Pepper says nothing. Tony crumbles. Steve listens to their breathing and Pepper’s soft, hushed voice and hurts like an open wound, his fingers itching to enter the workshop and make everything better because he knows this, he knows how to handle this, at least a little, at least more than a civilian woman who has never seen war with her own eyes. “It’s alright,” She tells Tony, and, “I got you. It’s fine.” 

He is glad. He is so, so glad Tony has Pepper and this is why he turns around and leaves as silently as possible. 

////////////

There is faint blue glow in his room some nights, when a shadow stumbles in without any grace. Steve thinks of the stories his mother used to tell him in her soft, lilting voice, of grieving souls who seek relief. 

He can’t offer relief. Instead, he turns around and allows Tony- Tony, who always reeks of alcohol these days and Steve doesn’t like it in the least, but he knows how these things work for some soldiers- to snuggle into his arms. He closes his eyes when Tony mumbles something, fingers twitching in fear, easing up a little with every passing minute until sleep gains him. 

“I love you,” He murmurs in Tony’s hairs and Tony just shifts in his much-needed sleep, his face calm for once. Sometimes Steve thinks that’s all he ever needs.


End file.
